I usually play in the CNC and Musical Instrument forums but the wood in this audio rack was so pretty that I thought I'd share the project here. It is complete but rather than just post the finished piece I'll show photos and descriptions along the way. My client actually came to me a couple of years ago with the request to do this build but I had just taken on a 14 month long project that would keep my small one-man shop tied up so this audio rack project sat for a long time before I got started. Fortunately, we ordered the Curly Maple and Purpleheart long before the lockdowns occurred and before pricing went even higher (this was not inexpensive wood by any means!).

This project is for a serious audiophile with some serious equipment. His McIntosh amp alone weighs 125 lbs.! The dimensions alone make this rack impressive; everything is 8/4 and the shelves are 23" deep, 52" wide, and the unit is 31" high. Each shelf will weigh about 60 lbs.

The top shelf is Curly Maple and the middle and bottom shelves are Northern Hard Rock Maple. These will be banded with Curly Maple so from the front you'll see Curly Maple shelves. But since the middle and bottom shelves will be covered with gear there was no need for these to be the much more expensive Curly Maple.

The legs are about 2" x 3" and are Purpleheart. I'll finish the piece in Nitrocellulose lacquer.

When the shelves are glued I'll take them to my friend's cabinet shop and run them through their wide belt sander. Our SuperMax 19-38 will work but it will be so much easier to do it on their wide belt sander.

As you can see, just the lumber alone overwhelms our little shop and when it comes to assembling this I'll have to do it in the house because I don't have room in the shop to put it together. 😉

Preliminary design -
001 - Curly Maple and Purpleheart audio rack.jpg

One shelf, basically, prior to jointing -
002 - Hard Rock Maple for shelves 23 x 52.jpg

All the lumber for the project -
003 - Curly Maple, Hard Rock Maple, Purpleheart for audio rack.jpg

Curly Maple close up shots -
004 - Curly Maple for audio rack.jpg

005 - Curly Maple for audio rack.jpg

I'll post more in a bit -